what is usually understood by that term. No outer documents exist
of the period in question. The people usually known as “Indians”
belong to a stage of historical evolution which was developed
long after the time spoken of here. We have to distinguish
a first post-Atlantean period of the earth, in which the Indian
civilization now described was the predominant one; then came a
second post-Atlantean period in which the prevailing civilization
was that which later in this work is called the “ancient Persian,”
and still later was developed the Egypto-Chaldean civilization,
also to be described. During the evolution of these second and
third post-Atlantean epochs, “ancient” India also went through
a second and third epoch, and to this third epoch belongs what
is usually related of ancient India. What is described here
must therefore not be applied to the “ancient India” mentioned
elsewhere.

[251]

Another feature of this ancient Indian civilization is that
which afterward led to the division of the race into castes.
The inhabitants of India were descendants of Atlanteans who
belonged to the various types of Saturn and Jupiter humanities,
etc. By means of supersensible teachings it was seen that it is not
by chance that a soul is incarnated in a particular caste, but that
the soul itself has determined its lot. Such an understanding of
supersensible teachings was made much easier, because it was
possible to revive in many people the inner remembrance of their
ancestors which has been described above; this, of course, might
also easily lead to an erroneous idea of reincarnation. Just as,
in the Atlantean age, it was only through the Initiates that the
true idea of reincarnation could be realized, so in India, in most
ancient times, it was possible only through direct contact with the
great teachers. It is true that the erroneous idea of reincarnation
mentioned above found the widest acceptance imaginable among
the bands of people who were dispersed over Europe, Asia and
Africa in consequence of the Atlantean catastrophe. And because
the Initiates who had gone astray during the Atlantean evolution